By John Cotter, The Canadian Press
HOBBEMA, Alta. - Extreme violence such as the fatal shooting of a young mother on an Alberta reserve won't stop until parents, grandparents and band leaders tell children they aren't welcome in the community if they belong to a gang, police say.
Delena Dixon, 20, who also goes by the last name Lefthand, was shot in the head Saturday night after her home was riddled with bullets on the Samson reserve - one of four First Nations in Hobbema south of
"People are frustrated and apprehensive and are saying 'what can we do to make it right?,"' said Roy Louis, an adviser with the Samson First Nation.
"It is up to us, the four Nations people. We need to work together to come up with a long-term solutions against the gangs, the drugs and the violence. But our community has to take charge."
Since April, when a young girl was wounded in a drive-by shooting, RCMP and the community have cracked down hard on the 13 gangs that sell drugs and violently lash out on the reserves.
Along with the gun amnesty, which runs until November, more than 40 Mounties have been posted to police the community of 12,000 - one of the highest police-to-citizen ratios in the country.
The Samson First Nation imposed a curfew on people under 18 years of age. The band approved the destruction of 26 known drug houses on the Samson reserve and has been painting over gang graffiti spray painted on buildings.
A cadet corps developed with the RCMP is active in area schools to give young people a positive alternative to gangs.
All these countermeasures need time to dig into the gang problem, said RCMP Chief Superintendent Fred Kamins, the deputy criminal operations officer in
In the meantime, Kamins said people in Hobbema need to grapple with their culture of forgiveness when it comes to violent gang members.
Excuses that a gang member is just misguided or doesn't really know what he is doing or that he is really not a bad kid can no longer be acceptable when there is so much violence, he said. The community continuing to embrace these gang members does nothing to help.
"These communities have to recognize that they have a problem with some of these young people that are out there with their gang ties and this lifestyle with drugs and the violence and they can go home to grandma, and grandma will accept them and love them unconditionally, Kamins said.
"Well the grandmas and other community leaders have to stop and say, 'Wait a minute. If you are involved in this' - almost like the tough love theory - 'this is just as hard for me to say, no you are not welcome back in my home until you quit your gang ties and you quit doing drugs."'
Carolyn Buffalo, president of the Maskwacis Justice Society at Hobbema, acknowledged that the idea of banishing gang members has been discussed, but she made it clear that it goes against aboriginal culture.
Historically, there have been some cases where band members have been cast out, but only in extreme circumstances, she said.
Community leaders find it hard to turn their backs on their people, she said.
"The hardened criminals and the entrenched gang members are committing these crimes and they are committing violence and they are hurting the community terribly," said
"We have to balance that on the other hand with the fact that we have a lot of people involved in gangs who may be rehabilitated.
"They are our people, they are our children, they are our community members, our relatives. And it may look simple and easy from someone on the outside. But to us it isn't that simple."
In the interim, band leaders are looking at other measures to protect their communities from gangs.
Other bands in Hobbema are considering imposing curfews on young people similar to the one imposed by the Samson First Nation, Louis said.
Community leaders are also considering identifying and destroying drug houses on other reserves, including the Ermiskine First Nation.
The latest shooting has raised more questions and debate about gangs on the troubled reserves, but one thing that everyone agrees on is that nobody is giving up.
"This is not an overnight solution,"